Endgame
by dark-spirited Bakura
Summary: The story starts with two best friends. The story ends with their deaths.


**Presenting my first ever Death Note fanfiction! Yayz! *throws confetti* This is going to be a sort of test run for me so I can kind of get in touch with the characters and get used to writing them. Therefore it is probably going to bore you guys to death. XD Haha who needs a Death Note when you have my terrible writing skills? *is shot* Anyways I'd love it if you could read this through and critique me a little, give me some ways I could personalize the characters better and such. That would be extremely helpful to meh! :3 Except no flames! Rem and Sidoh eat all flames that dare cross my path.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own! If I did, Matt would be the main character and nobody would die depressing deaths. *sniffs while thinking of L***

**Summary: The story starts with two best friends. The story ends with their deaths. MattxMello friendship, one-shot.**

**Warnings: Mild swearing, a little depressing. This is just a friendship fic, so no shounen-ai/yaoi in this one! *Ryuuk pouts and chucks an apple at Dark's head***

* * *

As Mello set down the phone, he knew that he could count down the hours he had left to live on his fingers. He knew that if he went through with this, there was simply no way he would live to see the sun rise tomorrow. Sighing, he slightly lifted his head and glanced through his now wild bangs at the person sitting across from him.

Matt's face was shadowed, the normally playful countenance masked by an unreadable emotion. He reached into his pocket, bringing out a small silver lighter. He flicked open the lid, only to close it again a moment later. "There's no way to talk you out of this, is there?" he asked slowly, although he already knew the answer. He flipped the lighter open again.

The blonde was silent for a moment longer. "I have to do this," Mello replied sternly, eyes flashing. "There's no other way."

A small, knowing smirk made its presence known on Matt's features as the lighter closed once more with a loud snap. "How did I know you'd say that?" The brunette looked up, bangs held from his blue eyes by the pair of goggles strapped around his head. "I'll help any way I can. I'm not going to let you do this alone."

Mello reached for the unopened chocolate bar that sat on the table between them, a small smile tugging at the corner of his lips. "Thank you, Matt…"

"Oh no, don't you dare get all sappy on me just because I said that now," Matt said in all seriousness, placing a cigarette in his mouth and bringing the lighter up to it.

Mello rolled his eyes, peeling the foil from his chocolate and snapping a piece off with his teeth. He chucked the rest at the brunette and cause him to drop the lighter. "Smoking really isn't good for your health," he noted smugly, chewing on his piece of chocolate.

Matt frowned, unlit cigarette still lodged in his mouth. "Touché. As goes for your diet that consists of nothing but chocolate. Honestly I don't see how you're not ridiculously overweight by now."

Mello shrugged nonchalantly. "It takes skills to pull it off."

There was a comfortable silence between the two, and suddenly Mello was overcome with sadness. This was the last time he'd ever be able to spend this kind of moment with Matt; there would never be another moment where they would just lie back and make friendly jests at the other, where they didn't have to worry about the outside world and what was happening, where they could just be the best friends they were. Never again.

Matt noticed the sudden change in Mello's expression, and could easily guess what the blonde was thinking about after years of practice. He still remembered the first time the two of them had truly met outside of Wammy's House about four years ago. Back then they had just been runaway teenagers from the same orphanage who couldn't get a break, barely managing to survive on their own. Neither of them had friends to confide in, nor anyone to take them in. The worst part of that existence was the knowledge that you were alone.

Then, by some miracle, those two runaways found each other. They immediately became good friends, each completely understanding of the other's situation. They had never talked much while in the orphanage, but the outside world brought them together. They supported each other, they fought countless battles together, and eventually made their way to where they were today.

_We made it so far…_ Matt mused, attempting to light his cigarette after regaining his lighter. He inhaled, feeling the familiar burning sensation of the smoke in his lungs.

"I'm not going to make it out of this alive," Mello suddenly said after a long period of silence, though it was already an unspoken fact. Matt closed his eyes as he lowered his head, forcing himself to acknowledge the truth of that statement. He knew that they'd get to this point eventually, but he didn't think it would be so soon…

"Neither of us are." The words were spoken barely above a whisper, but Mello still caught them.

"You aren't going to die," the blonde immediately reprimanded, narrowing his eyes. "You're going to make it out of this alive."

"If you die, then I die too," Matt snapped back in a rare moment of anger. "I wouldn't be able to live with myself knowing that my best friend was dead and there was nothing I could do about it. Put yourself in my situation; look at this through my eyes. Don't be so damn selfish, Mihael."

Mello blinked in surprise at the usage of his real name, finally realizing how much this meant to the brunette. "Matt…"

"And I'll be damned if I didn't go down with you," he finished, taking one last drag of his cigarette and throwing it down to the floor, stomping out the light with a booted foot.

After a few seconds Mello grinned. "'Till death do we part', huh?"

"Now we're a married couple?" Matt asked dryly. "If so, I didn't receive an invitation to the wedding. I hope you know that offends me deeply."

"You missed out; the wedding was beautiful and the cake was delicious." The blonde's grin widened as he dodged an incoming projectile, which turned out to be the brunette's goggles.

"I want a divorce," Matt declared, hair now falling over his eyes. "I feel extremely unappreciated in this relationship."

"You've watched one too many soap operas," Mellow said in fake concern, a sympathetic look on his face.

"They help me deal with the depression in my life," Matt plainly stated, standing up to go retrieve the goggles.

Mello reached over to grab the goggles that were lying on the floor next to him, strapping them around his head. "I think these look better on me than they do on you," the blonde remarked, pretending to admire his reflection in the surface of the polished wooden table.

"You wish," Matt drawled, pulling the goggles from Mello's head and letting them snap back, leaving a nice red mark. The brunette smirked, before glancing up at the small clock on the wall. The time read 8:15. "The 9:00 news starts in less than an hour. If we're going through with this we had better leave soon."

The words hung in the air, immediately changing the mood in the room to a more somber one. Mello sighed, closing his eyes. There was another period of silence between the two as they individually prepared themselves for what was going to happen next.

Matt pulled on a pair of black gloves, and slipped a white vest over his red and black striped shirt. The goggles were back on his head, but brought down to cover his eyes. Mello dressed in all leather, holding a black helmet in his right hand. He was going to be taking his motorcycle while Matt drove his car. A smoke grenade launcher was placed in the back pocket of his jeans.

The pair was ready to go within 15 minutes. The plan was for Matt to create a distraction while Mello kidnapped Kiyomi Takada. Then they were to rendezvous at a place outside of town once they were sure they had lost anyone that was on their tail.

Matt fiddled with the lighter that rested in his left hand, flicking open the top and closing it again repeatedly. "You ready to do this?" he asked, a small smile on his face. Mello looked over, tossing him the keys to his car. The brunette caught them clumsily with his right hand.

"I wish the answer to that question was yes," the blonde replied, staring blankly at the wall.

Matt shoved the keys in his pocket and pulled out a cigarette. He lodged it in his mouth, lighting it. "Well… it looks like this is it then. The end of the road." He gave a slight grin, turning his head to look at Mello. "It's been fun."

Mello nodded firmly, glancing back at Matt with a matching grin. "Yeah, that's for sure. There was never a dull moment."

"Agreed. Oh and… I have a confession to make."

Mello raised an eyebrow. "Oh?"

"Remember that one time when we were 8 years old your collection of toy cars went missing and we all blamed it on Near? That was actually me."

Mello blinked, and then started laughing.

* * *

Matt's heart raced as he tore out of the parking lot of NHN, adrenaline pumping. The distraction had been a success, and Mello had been able to capture Takada. Now all he had to do was lose the ones that were trailing him.

He made a sharp turn onto one of the main roads, becoming annoyed by the persistence of his followers. They quickly copied his move, not missing a beat. He glanced back to confirm that they were still right behind him. He glanced back in front of him and almost panicked at the sight of the barricade in front of him. _They must have gotten ahead of me…_

Matt slammed on the brakes, the car spinning wildly as he came to a stop. He looked around, carefully keeping all emotions off his face. _How may damn bodyguards does one woman need?_ he thought to himself, trying not to feel overwhelmed by the sheer number of men surrounding him.

He placed the gun in the top part of the vest behind his head, ready to use another smokescreen to escape. Matt stepped out of the car, hands raised in pretended surrender. "Since when were the Japanese allowed to carry such big guns?" he jabbed at them, a smirk making its way onto his face. "I'm part of this whole kidnapping, you got me." After the next line, he was going to make his getaway. His left hand inched toward the hidden gun. "That means you probably have a lot of questions to ask me. You won't shoot-"

His eyes widened in shock and pain as several rounds of bullets was emptied into his body, being thrown back by the force of them. The resounding explosions of the gunfire echoed in his head, becoming the only sound he could hear.

Matt fell backwards, completely numb to the world around him. The cigarette fell from his mouth, dousing itself on his blood as it dropped. Nearly sightless blue eyes started to close for the final time, embracing the darkness. _I guess… I'll see you soon… Mihael…_

The eyes closed.

Mello sped away on his motorcycle, Takada seated behind him. The kidnapping itself had gone perfectly according to plan, and he had already shaken off anyone that was tailing him. It was Matt that he was worried about.

To his surprise, the majority of Takada's bodyguards had gone after the brunette instead of him. He knew that Matt was an escape artist, but something told him this wouldn't end well…

After he had driven into the open end of a trailer truck and assured that Takada had nothing on her that could be used against him, Mello got into the driver's seat of the truck. He suspected – no, he knew – that the woman had a piece of the notebook with her. Which mean that everything was still going according to plan.

Mello reached into his pocket, bringing out his cell phone. He quickly dialed Matt's number from memory, and listened to it ring as he started driving. Once. Twice. Three times. A fourth. After the fifth, it went to voicemail. "I'm not available to talk right now, obviously. Mello, if it's something stupid like running out of chocolate again then you better just hang up now because I really don't give a damn. Otherwise-"

"Why the hell isn't he picking up?" the blonde muttered, ending the call. A part of his mind quickly came up with a three word answer that he dearly hoped proved to be false. _He's already…_

The small TV that was installed into the dashboard of the truck started talking. "As for the suspect who was gunned down earlier…"

Mello stopped breathing as he took in the image of a completely ruined red car – Matt's car. Several bullet holes marked the vehicle as well as shattered glass. A sharp pain hit his heart, and for a second he thought his name had already been written in the notebook. _Matt… I never wanted you to die…_ Tears pricked at the corners of his eyes, slightly blurring his vision. _I… I'm so sorry…_

He tried to pull himself together as he drove onto the freeway, not able to get that horrifying image out of his head. He was grateful they didn't show footage of the body, or he would have completely lost it. _Matt… is gone… they killed him… it was my fault… my fault…_ Mello didn't even notice as a few tears trickled down the side of his face, too absorbed in his thoughts to pay heed to the world around him.

Without even thinking about it, he made his way to the rendezvous point he and Matt had decided on. It was an old, long since abandoned church that was completely falling apart. It was the place where the two had met for the first time in the outside world; it signified the beginning of their friendship and the beginning of their new lives. "How ironic…" he mumbled aloud, looking up at the building from where he had parked.

_Near… Nate… don't you dare let our sacrifices be in vain…_

The pain in Mello's heart started up again, but this time he knew that it was the work of the Death Note. He clutched his chest, eyes wide open as the pain intensified. _Matt… you better have… waited for me…_

Mello fell forward as his life ended, letting the darkness take him.

* * *

***sniffles* Poor them… I almost cried while writing that last part, just so you guys know. And I wrote this whole thing on my iPod in one night at like 3 in the morning so sorry if it doesn't make any sense. DX At first I was going to write an L/Light fanfiction but I decided these two seemed a lot better to write about for my first Death Note fic. Random bit of information, I was on Google Translate because I wanted to see how L's real name was pronounced. I listened to it in Japanese, and it was talking for like 30 seconds! And I'm like O.o. Then I clicked on Chinese just for fun and it was talking for about 5 minutes. I wanted to listen to how the name was pronounced, not a whole history about it! D: Anyways leave me a review please! I will love you and hug you if you do! (Virtually, of course :P)**


End file.
